In this Wednesday, April 12, 2017 photo, Jennifer Glass, director of Archeology and Historical Preservation at James Madison's estate, gestures in front of some of the reconstructed slave cabins in the South Yard of the property in Montpelier, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

The homes of slaves who worked on President James Madison's estate in Virginia are being rebuilt.

Work crews are at Montpelier. That is the name of the mansion. It is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The crews are digging and rebuilding six structures. They are on what is called the South Yard. It is where house slaves lived and worked.

The slave quarters were cleared away more than 150 years ago. They were planted over with grass. The rebuilding began in 2015. That was after a gift from David Rubenstein. He is from Washington. He is a philanthropist and history buff.

Rubenstein also gave money to pay for refurnishing parts of the home. It is where Madison drafted ideas that would become the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Rubenstein told The Associated Press that he wanted to help make the estate more authentic.

The dwellings, smokehouses and kitchen will be part of Montpelier's new exhibition. It is called The Mere Distinction of Color. It opens in June.

Elizabeth Chew is Vice President of Museum Programs. She said the exhibition will be a "new chapter" in terms of how the estate talks and teaches about slavery. There will be a greater focus on what life would have been like for the slaves. It also will focus on the legacy of slavery on today's society.

why would someone pay for the rebuilding .because the want to show the world that it was slaver before and that their want never be no more slaver and that black will be free and that no win will ask for them to work for them and they dont want to

jenniferr-bur

5/17/2017 - 11:01 a.m.

The dwellings, smokehouses and kitchen will be part of Montpelier's new exhibition. It is called The Mere Distinction of Color. I didn't know that some slaves had houses.

charlesa11-

5/18/2017 - 10:58 a.m.

Someone would pay to show how the houses looked when people lived in it and what it was like for them. For example, if it was easy living in the homes. Rebuilding it is good for a piece of history from more than 100 years ago.

ashleyn-ver

5/19/2017 - 03:17 p.m.

I feel like they shouldn't rebuild the slavery homes. I feel like it'll only bring bad memories and pain to our world. Slavery was ruled unconstitutional for a reason.

kylel-buh

5/22/2017 - 09:43 a.m.

Slave houses being rebuilt in madison Montpelier. the removal of the houses where 150 years ago and people started rebuilding them 2015.

MY OPINION: My opinion is that this is really sad.we get to see what slaves had to go through and looking at the house in the picture it is not a good sight to see so I don't know why anyone would rebuild these.

chadg-kut

5/23/2017 - 02:06 p.m.

People are paying for the building because it is respectful and it is a nice thing to do after what the slaves were put through. I think it would be interesting to know what it was like to be in their position.